Snow hampers Amtrak trains to and from Chicago

Passengers on a Chicago-bound Amtrak train got extra time to get to know one another this week when their train came face-to-face with the first big snowstorm of 2010 to hit the upper Midwest.

The food from the dining car was long gone, and the conductor had gotten chips and snacks from the train's storage, one passenger told WGN AM-720 this morning. Many passengers hadn't expected to be on a train so long, and didn't have a change of clothes. And the hours, like the snow outside, seemed to refuse to melt away.

In the end, the No. 6 California Zephyr train arrived at Union Station 17 hours, 56 minutes late, according to an Amtrak spokesman.

Along the way the train was delayed an hour because it struck a pickup truck on the stopped on tracks near Osceola, Iowa. It was delayed for one nine-hour stint due to impassable snow drifts. At one point the engine left the passenger cars behind and had to double back to reconnect, the passenger told WGN.

All told, the passenger said, his trip from Denver, ordinarily about an 18 hour trip, took about 35 hours.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari confirmed the collision with the truck. He did not confirm whether the engine left the other cars for a time. "I don't have knowledge of that," he said. "I don't know that to be true."

Snow caused "serious delays" in service between Chicago and Denver and Minneapolis and Spokane, Wash., over the last few days, he said. The California Zephyr No. 5 train, which operates on the same line as the No. 6 in the opposite direction, arrived in Denver this morning 23 hours and 29 minutes behind schedule.

Because of continuing weather problems, service between Chicago and Denver on the California Zephyr and between Chicago and Minneapolis on the Empire Builder Line was canceled Friday and Saturday, Magliari said.

He encouraged passengers affected by the delays to call Amtrak at 800-USA-RAIL for travel options, or visit amtrak.com.